Research Speaker Series
A Place for Knowledge Exchange
The College of Indigenous Studies is co-hosting a monthly speaker series with the
International Arctic Research Center highlighting collaborative approaches to research,
education and real-life community-based practices in rural Alaska.
Upcoming Presentations
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Apr.18
This semester's collaboration brunch, hosted by IARC, will take place on Friday, April 18, from 10 AM to 12 PM at 501 Akasofu Building. This in-person-only gathering offers a chance to connect in a welcoming setting—no presentations, just meaningful conversations. Stay tuned for details on planned activities.
10 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
The College of Indigenous Studies and the International Arctic Research Center are excited to co-host a new virtual seminar series called A Place for Knowledge Exchange. These monthly conversations will cover collaborative approaches to research, education, and real-life community-based practices in rural Alaska.
Future seminar topics include co-stewardship, co-production of knowledge, climate impacts on traditional ways of life, food and water security, fisheries, and much more.
As part of A Place for Knowledge Exchange, CIS and IARC will hold two collaboration brunches for those interested in connecting with the two organizations and other members of the UAF community. The location of these connection brunches will rotate between CIS and IARC facilities, one in February and one in April.
The seminar and brunches will be facilitated by:
- Josie Sam, Assistant Professor, Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development and International Arctic Research Center
- Jessica Black, Associate Vice Chancellor for Rural, Community and Native Education
- Sonta Roach, Assistant Professor, Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development
- Margaret Rudolf, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Arctic Research Center
Date: April 12, 2023
Time: 12 pm - 1 pm AKST
Date: Feb. 8, 2023
Time: 12 pm - 1 pm AKST
Michael Koskey is an associate professor with the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies,
which offers a Master's of Arts and a Ph.D. in Indigenous Studies. While serving in
the Marine Corps he received a BS in Anthropology and a BA in Political Science from
the University of Central Florida, and afterward received an MS in Anthropology from
Purdue University and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Mike's research focuses on oral history, traditional knowledge, ethnohistory, culture
change, decolonization, resource use and allocation, food security and sovereignty,
and indigenous cosmology/mythology. He is married and has two grown sons, lives in
Goldstream Valley, and enjoys hiking and hunting with family and friends.
Date: Jan. 18, 2023
Time: 12pm - 1pm
Dr. Diane McEachern is a professor of rural human services (RHS) and Human Services
(HUMS) at CIS’s Kuskokwim Campus in Bethel. She has taught there for 19 years and
previous to that was the lead social worker for the Lower Kuskokwim School District.
She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Psychology/Philosophy from Missouri State University,
her master’s degree in social work from Arizona State University, and her doctorate
from Lesley University in Cambridge MA.
Dr. McEachern’s research and doctoral work was the study of social work education
with Indigenous adult learners. She is program head for an innovative cohort model
of education (RHS) that has as its foundation, Indigenous ways of learning and understanding.
This has made the program, taught out of the Kuskokwim and Interior Alaska Campus
(IAC) popular among Indigenous adult learners from many rural communities.
She was the recipient of the Emil Usibelli Award for distinguished teaching among
other awards. She enjoys roaming the tundra, photography, and hiking.
Date: Nov. 9, 2022
Time: Noon AKT
Dr. Charleen Fisher is a member of the Gwich’in, Koyukon, and Dena'ina community from
Beaver, Alaska. She currently teaches at the University of Alaska Fairbanks as an
Assistant Professor.
She has a B.A. in Political Science, M.Ed. in Language and Literacy, a Graduate Certificate in Educational Leadership from the University of Alaska Anchorage, and a Ph.D. in Indigenous Studies from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Dr. Fisher presented on the Co-Create Initiative: Collaborative research in the circumpolar
North. Read the paper here:
Copy of presentation
Date: Oct. 14, 2022
Time: Noon AKT
Tribal Governance faculty Michelle Demmert will presented on the 2022 Violence Against
Women Act and the Alaska Provisions.
Michelle (Jaaghal.aat) Demmert, Tlingit, Eagle, Ḵaax̱ʼoos.hittaan (Man’s Foot) clan
is an Assistant Professor in the Tribal Governance Department of the College of Indigenous
Studies College. In the recent past, she was the Law and Policy Director at
the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center, served as the appointed Chief Judge for
the Tulalip Tribes and the elected Chief Justice for the Central Council Tlingit and
Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
While the Chief Justice for her tribe, she served as the co-chair of the National
Congress of American Indians’ Violence Against Women Task Force. Professor Demmert
has devoted her legal career to advancing improvements and practices in tribal courts
and has also worked in various capacities of advancing domestic violence protections
for women and children.
Date: Sept. 14, 2022
Time: Noon AKST
Dr. Walkie Charles, Director of the UAF Alaska Native Language Center, presented on
his research "Dynamic Assessment in a Yugtun L2 Intermediate Adult Classroom."
Walkie Charles (Yup’ik) is an Associate Professor of Yup’ik in the Alaska Native Language
Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). He also became the first Alaska
Native director for the Alaska Native Language Center (ANLC) at UAF in 2021. He received
his Ph.D. in applied linguistics in 2011.
His interests include dynamic assessment, sociocultural theory, and Yugtun (Yup’ik)
language teaching and learning. His dissertation was titled Dynamic Assessment in
a Yugtun L2 Intermediate Adult Classroom. He has extensive experience in public school
teaching and bilingual education for over thirty years both in rural and urban Alaskan
communities.
"Dynamic Assessment in a Yugtun L2 Intermediate Adult Classroom"
Dr. Walkie Charles
"VAWA 2022: The Alaska Tribal Empowerment Subtitle"
Michelle Demmert, J.D.
"Improving the relationships between Indigenous rights holders and researchers in
the Arctic: an invitation for change in funding and collaboration"
Dr. Charleen Fisher
" Social work education with Indigenous adult learners"
Dr. Diane McEachern